


The Aftermath of the Boggart Lesson or Remus Lupin telling Dumbledore to fire Snape

by DemonBanisher



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Boggarts, Children's Rights, Facing Your Fears, Fear, Gen, Growing Up, Hogwarts Third Year, Protecting Children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24123196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonBanisher/pseuds/DemonBanisher
Summary: After Remus learns that Neville's boggart is not the people who tortured his parents but a professor at Hogwarts he storms into Dumbledore's office to demand Snape be fired. What ensues is a conversation about their role within Hogwarts and what they each see as their duty to protect the students.Lots of Remus just straight up yelling at Dumbledore
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45





	The Aftermath of the Boggart Lesson or Remus Lupin telling Dumbledore to fire Snape

**Author's Note:**

> Snape angers me so much as a character, teachers play a big role in children's live and to have a teacher that abuses students and treat him as a hero is problematic.  
> I love mythology and the boggart scene is one of my favourites. Remus does so much to make the students feel comfortable and protect them, literally throwing himself in front of Harry, it made me realize he wouldn't stand for this abuse.  
> Thus this fic was born playing out his conversation with Dumbledore.  
> Comments and thoughts always welcome!

“You need to fire Snape,” Remus Lupin said bursting into Albus Dumbledore’s office. Lucky that somehow Dumbledore was both there and alone.

“You know, most professors start with hello,” Dumbledore said putting down the book that he had in his hand and turning to face Lupin. 

“I just watched a thirteen-year-old boy, whose parents were tortured to the point of insanity, to the point that they barely recognize him anyone, produce a boggart that wasn’t a deatheater, wasn’t Barty Crouch Junior or Bellatrix Lestrange, but a teacher of this institution.”

“You know Lupin, using a boggart with students is dangerous. You never know what you may find out.”

“Oh, fuck you.”

Dumbledore stopped and stared out at Remus over his horn-rimmed glasses. 

“Using Muggle swears are we now Remus?”

Remus didn’t miss a beat.

“I would die for my students Dumbledore. I am at their side through ever moment of that class, prepared to throw myself in harms way if it protects them. Speaking of which, I also had to step in front of the boggart today to protect Harry because he’s horrified of Dementors. Did you think before you brought them here or do just find joy in watching your students have their souls sucked out of them?” Remus was furious. His face was flush, making his pale scars stand out stronger than usual. If anything, it should have been a reminder to Dumbledore of what this school stood for, about who they were supposed to be protecting, the way he had once fought to protect Remus so many years ago.

Dumbledore moved slowly to his desk, raising his wand briefly to clear some books out of his way so that he could keep Remus in his sightline. 

“Sit please Remus, we can calm down and talk about this together,” he laced his hands together gently in front of him.

“I will not sit,” Remus said pacing so angrily across the floor that many of the paintings started to stir, trying to figure out what all the ruckus was about. He finally stopped abruptly in the middle of his room, his back still facing Dumbledore. Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair, as if this was a moment he’d been waiting for. 

“There is a reason I choose boggarts Albus,” Remus started quietly. “I spent my whole childhood believing that if my worst fear came to light, I would lose everything I loved. I spent so many sleepless nights at Hogwarts thinking that I’d lose Sirius, James, Peter, and Lily as soon as they found out what I was. But then they did, and I didn’t lose them. In fact, they only proved to me further how much they loved me, how much I meant to them as a person. I didn’t think I mattered before that moment. I learned that day that the only person my fear was hurting was myself. There are too many students hurting in silence because they are afraid that to give their fears a name, to say them out loud, is to lose everything.” Remus turned himself around and strode closer to Dumbledore’s desk. He looked him dead in the eyes, hoping that somehow maybe he would understand the weight of what he was trying to say.

“Last week,” Remus began again, “I found out a fifth years boyfriend was abusing her. I recognized the boggart’s form as it started to change and threw myself in front of it again. I talked with her after class, she never realized how scared she was of him. No one ever explained to her what was and wasn’t abuse so she took it because she thought that was what she deserved because she was scared that if she left him, she wouldn’t be loved. What she chooses to do next is her choice, but she can’t hide from that fear anymore. 

“Another student from Harry’s year came to see me after class to ask if he could practice the spell in privacy. He knew it would be his family calling him homophobic slurs because he was terrified about what would happen when he finally came out to someone. I can’t change what that boy’s family says to him, but I can give him someone to talk to. I can try and lift some of that weight off his chest.

“I wonder sometimes, if there had been a boggart when I’d been at Hogwarts, if someone had to look head on into Walburga’s eyes as she cried ‘Crucio!’ at her own son, if someone would have finally had to stop brushing off the bruises and gotten Sirius out of that hell. If someone saw him, let him speak about his fears, if someone had stepped in, maybe, just maybe this story would have ended differently.” Dumbledore had been headmaster back then too, Remus knew that most teachers saw Sirius’ scars and bruises, noticed when he came back from holiday with a limp, but none of them did anything. Some like McGonagall would try to pull him aside when they could, give him biscuits and tea, do what they could to make the darkness go away for a while, but it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t recover from the damage his fear had caused him.

“Remus, I know things have been particularly difficult recently, certain” he paused, trying to decide on the right word “events, may have dredged up old memories.” Remus opened his mouth to cut him off, but Dumbledore simply raised a hand and Remus backed off. “This is why I figured you of all people would understand. There is another war coming Remus, and we need to be ready. I can’t fire Snape; he is too valuable an asset. It is very difficult to find people we trust, as you have so clearly illustrated. I trust Severus and I can’t risk losing an ally.”

Remus hated the way that Dumbledore was using Sirius as a pawn to try and get him to see his side. Lupin wasn’t a tool to be manipulated, he wasn’t a student anymore. He saw through Dumbledore’s tricks, and it made him ill to think that Dumbledore thought he could use the memory of everything Remus had lost to coax him into silence, to allow someone to keep abusing students in this way.

“Bullshit Albus,” Remus said, slipping back into Muggle cursing like he always did when he was angry. “You don’t trust him. You never have. How many years has he wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts position and you’ve turned him down? You don’t want him in that position of power where he can manipulate students for good or just as likely for evil. Yes, there’s a war brewing, but we’re teachers. Our job is to protect the students. How can we do that when we have Dementors on the grounds sucking away their happiness? How can we do that when we have teacher’s verbally and psychologically abusing our students on a daily basis?” Remus pulled out the ragged chair that was facing Dumbledore’s desk, he thought about the way he had sat in this same spot as a student, when he had felt so powerless, and Dumbledore had seemed so powerful, so right and just. He lifted a stack of old books off the chair and took a seat. 

“You made a decision to allow me to go to Hogwarts. You put aside that I was a werewolf because you saw that I was a child. Anything else was a decision that was made for me, something I had no control over. You knew I needed a safe place, a place where I wasn’t punished or shamed while I figured myself out. Don’t Harry and Neville and every other student deserve the same?”

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and it gave a loud squeak that broke the tense silence in the room. “The world is not a safe place Remus. Harry and Neville learned that young enough, there is no point protecting them from the inevitable.”

Remus stood up, disgusted. Once he’d held so much respect and regard for this man in front of him. He had seemed so wise and noble. Years ago, Remus would have followed him anywhere blindly, now he constantly found himself watching his back. He still didn’t know why Dumbledore had tracked him down to give him this job, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it had nothing to do with his qualifications. Maybe to him he was still a child, still a pawn that he could move wherever he pleased. 

“They are children Albus. They don’t know how to save themselves, and we shouldn’t expect them to. Growing up is an incredibly painful process, they’ll learn in time if they haven’t already how dark of a place the world can be. We should start showing them as soon as we can that it doesn’t have to be. That there are people who are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to turn on a light.”

Dumbledore hadn’t moved an inch. His face remained stoic and stony, showing no sign of emotion. No remorse or regret at the damage his decision may have caused.

“Will that be all Remus?” He asked.

Remus snorted, he wanted to curse him out again but knew now that he wasn’t worth the breath. He simply nodded curtly and strode out of the room. Remus didn’t know if he could keep this job much longer. He needed the money, yes, but his beliefs were more important to him. In the meantime, he swore he’d do everything he could to protect his students, to help them see a kinder side of the world, but he could no longer tell them that their headmaster would protect them always. Remus wondered whether Albus saw Hogwarts as a school or a barracks. He wondered what Albus saw when he looked at a boggart. Whether it was Voldemort’s return, the death of those he swore to protect, or if just perhaps, more likely he saw himself stripped of power and control. No longer the greatest wizard who ever lived but simply a man. He wondered what had happened to the stalwart man he once knew, then more bleakly he realized that perhaps he had never existed at all. It didn’t matter, all that mattered was that Remus showed his students that sometimes you can put your faith in people, and they don’t let you down. Sometimes you face your fears and instead of the world pulling you apart, you come back stronger.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how I feel about Dumbledore. I feel like he means good but goes about it in the wrong way. Leave me a comment with your thoughts.  
> Learning to face my fears was one of the scariest things I've ever had to do and I still suck at it. But I learned you can't be brave if you don't learn how to be afraid.  
> Hope you enjoyed the fic!


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